Warts and Crosses
Northern Crossroads The cold wind from the swamp to the north chills the air at this intersection, where two roads going in opposite directions meet. One leads west to Polyhex, the Decepticon stronghold rebuilt from its own ashes. The other runs north to the Cybertronian Swamplands and south to the Northern Highway. The bridge that once crossed the swamp is gone, leaving no way across other than by air. Faint, eerie sounds seem to filter down from the distant swamp when the wind briefly calms, but disappear before they can be identified. Contents: Focus Dreadwind Exo-armor wreckage Obvious exits: Fly leads to Sky above Northern Crossroads. North leads to Drawbridge Over Cyberswamp. Northwest leads to Cybertronian Swamplands East. South leads to Northern Highway. West leads to Road to Polyhex. Windshear has arrived. Backfire has arrived. The chill winds from the Swamplands carry a stank odour that does nothing to lighten the atmosphere at the nexus that is the Crossroads. Earth tales based loosely on fact tell of such areas being the final 'resting' place site of many a failed highwayman... There many be no hangman's noose here, but there are so to speak, bodies to be found. And for better or worse, it is on such a crossroads that a junior Auto-Junk has set herself the task; to bring back the fallen body of her friend Whistler... the Warthog exosuit that Noah left behind during the last major battle here. But this is Decepticon country... Dreadwind leans forwards allowing his body to fall towards the horizontal as his chest flips upwards concealing his head, while his legs pivot and his arms join to form the lower fuselage, to reveal a deadly F-16 Falcon. A shake, shudder, and shiver; and before your eyes BACKFIRE transforms into a F-16 Falcon! Windshear is humming along in jet mode still undecided when he will take a shuttle back to Earth. Its nice to be back on active duty again and hes just wandering around finding things to do. Last night it was helping to built Zeppelins.. today just patrol. Hes up for anything at this point as he just cruises along. Banking low, Backfire twirls playfully through the air ... almost in a cheerful mood. Something is not right in the world. Junki-Hovercar scoots along the eerie roadway, the mangled remnants of what used to pass for lighting the only reminders that light once broke the darkness here, many ages ago. And she doesn't like it one bit. It's junk, Jim, but not as we'd like it. No sir..! A dark cloud of gloom that seems almost to belong here amidst the dank and cold slowly separates itself from the greater murk of the swamps atmosphere, heading achingly slowly towards the crossroads. Dreadwind has been spending a lot of time in many cheery and out of the way places since the new offensive kicked off. Recently frequenting the graveyard he'd come looking for a change of pace at the swamplands what with all the demands on Aerospace from Shockwave that Darkwing has been fulfilling. Dreadwind had figured that the Autobots would have won by now driving the Decepticons from their home and into lonely exile in space but no, they actually seem to be failing, which no doubt means something big is coming and soon. Junki-Hovercar emits a low soft ooh in Artooese, headlamps de-active but night vision fully on. She slows, reaching the reported area where the battle occurred... this is where Whistler died. Sure he was a little diagnostic routine, but he was a person. To the little Junkion, the warthog was his body... and the natural order is to bring his body home, back to Earth... The cybertronian hovercar splits the front hood and twists around. The back end flips up and folds over its hood while arms extend from the underside. The car does a quick jet of power lifting itself up to land on its new feet as a head slides out from the body. Where a hovercar once was, Focus stands. Dee-Kal transforms as quietly and quickly as she can, tri-blaster maglocked to her hip should she need it. Radio tuned to a Junk frequency, she radios Focus in a loud whisper. "(Mister Focus-san, doko desu ka..? Where are you..?)" Focus sits closer to the swamp. Unafraid of any decepticon reprisals, Focus is on an intersection that leads to some back roads and the main road that leads north. His audio pickups crackle with the faint sound of Dee-Kal whispering. Tilting his head curiously, he touches his temple which lights up red showing the hidden switch under the metal skin. <> Backfire emits over the shortwave, straightening out his approach and transforming near a huge wreck of what appears to be metal scraps. "What is this junk of human engineering doing littering -our- beloved planet? If you will, keep me covered while I root through the terran trash Windshear." The F-16 Falcon transforms with that ever-familiar sound to reveal... BACKFIRE! Windshear snorts at Backfire's words, "For the Glory of Megatron wanting to retake Cybertron. I literally laid down my life for it.. Im all for retaking it so no worries there, Backfire." he drops down and runs a cursory scan of the area below and then swings around, "Heads up I think Ive picked up something." F16 Falcon flies along as he always does totally oblivious to everything around him and at a speed that an airborne cybersnail could beat, after all he's in no rush to be anywhere and it's not like he can ever avoid the suffering that is his to bear. A small voice pipes up from within his cockpit, "Come on Dread we really should get back to operations, there's so much ground to cover and our forces haven't grown in repsonse, Darkwing needs my help organising all this." Dreadwind ignores Hi-Test and continues to fly silently, he's learnt that unfortunately his little partner is as stubborn as Darkwing when it comes to having to do things. Dee-Kal, a girl hovercar, radios back to the boy hover car. "" Focus looks up and about at the shadows spreading across the area. Focus nods and slowly gets up, He gets up and turns his head, feeling the joints loosen and pop. With a short turn, Focus transforms into his hovercar mode and starts heading south kicking up debris as he makes his way. Focus spins his torso around while his backpack flips onto his shoulders. The legs lock together and the whole thing falls back on cushiony repuslor fields. In a blurr of motion, Focus transforms into a hovercar. Windshear sets into a holding pattern, weapons online and keeps his scanners going to give the cover Backfire asked for. <"Detecting movement near that pile of fleshling electronics. Unidentified as of yet."> "Are you sure you're not detecting me? Is there something you wanted to confess?" Backfire heckles, tearing through the wreckage. It seems all the random debris here was plowed into one big pile, so he's got to dig through it to ascertain just what the EDC officer left here. F16 Falcon by sheer bad luck is flying away from both the Autobots and the Decepticons, not that he would care even if he did know that they were there, after all they never care for him. Interaction on any social level usually ends in violence from both parties, though at least those in Aerospace now just avoid him thanks to his unfortunate promotion. Finally his depression gets to him and he speaks to Hi-Test, "Always a headlong rush to your agonising end, you just want to get away from me, just like so many others... their suffering at a final end." Dee-Kal half hides in the shadows at the side of the road while transmitting her *exact* location to Focus. She looks up warily. Was that the sound of Decepticon jets in the distance? "" Focus agrees and pours on the speed. Focus eventually reaches the site of the wreck and transforms, unlocking his hip compartments and pulling out a pair of long narrow throwing blades. He says, "Decepticons rifling through the wreckage like turbo-rats. Are you the scavengers of your group?" He's not looking at anyone inparticular, but at least he can sense where Backfire is looking through the exo-armor. The cybertronian hovercar splits the front hood and twists around. The back end flips up and folds over its hood while arms extend from the underside. The car does a quick jet of power lifting itself up to land on its new feet as a head slides out from the body. Where a hovercar once was, Focus stands. Windshear does a barrel roll in place, "Nothing to confess, Backfire..." he rasps the suddenly drops down slightly, "You got company, ground pounder -- lost him, transmitting coordinates now." and in a short burst he sends the co-ordinates to Backfire and keeps scanning. Exo-armor wreckage: Exo-Armor Warthog Blackened and charred, this was once an EA-02 warthog that the EDC used. The exo-armor's frame has been blasted and melted by external and internal explosions. Anything inside was melted into cold slag by something very hot. The armor plating looks mostly intact giving the look of a shell than a fully functional exo-armor. The extra ammo pods there were mounted on the armor are no longer there...they are several feet away. As is a leg, it's some distance away from the body. There is hope for the safty of the pilot however. From the hatch that was blown off and the skid marks from the underside of the armor. It can be deduced that the pilot ejected while the armor was prone. The ejection seat skidded several hundred feet away to stop within the blast zone of the explosion when the armor's explosives went off. Well, maybe not safely, but he did get out. "Coordinates? I don't need no stinkin' coordinates!" Backfire shouts, tipped over the pile of garbage with legs flailing wildly from under it. "You're the scout, make sure he doesn't try to uhh ... like attack me or something!" The Seeker simpleton clears a decent section of metal away from the EDC Officer's vehicle, enough to get at the machinery. "Let's see if this junk offers anything rewarding? You know, I feel like one of those stupid Junkbots right about now." F16 Falcon flies steadily away the air around him seemingly becoming darker as he continues his 'moanalogue' at Hi-Test and anyone that might be trying to monitor any communications chatter, Dreadwind can never be bothered with secure channels. "Just like them you refuse to accept the terrible truth that is life, that everything we do is for nothing, all we are made for is to create pain and suffering to feed existence itself. Everything is an illusion designed to trap us into doing its will, have you not seen how all things crumble into nothingness, all the while we suffer more and more... it never ends." Dee-Kal checks around. She pops out of her spot at the side of the road and joins her friend. Junkions are very good at one thing - GARBAGE (well, that and hiding in it if they have to). Then she suddenly realises the implication behind Focus's defiant words. "Hey-! Junkion da yo!" she reminds him, frowning. "There is *nothing* wrong with...-" Pause. "Oh, matte. Wait. Yes, there is. Our friend is there-!" Dee-Kal shakes her head to clear it and re-focus. The jet ploughing through the debris obviously catches her attention, and then she sees it. Something chunky in places, rounded in others, gun-metal grey... distinctive colouring... markings (or remnants of) and completely mangled and charred. "Oh, my stars..I see it! The Warthog - I see him, Focus san..!" The junior Protectojunk pats at her triblaster, narrows her optics at Backfire... "Ah don' reckon you wanna be messin with that, pardner... Y'all wanna step away from the vehicle..?" she Quotes. Focus nods and launches himself at Backfire, hoping to land a hit that'll send him off the exo-armor. Focus snaps an open palm forward saying, "Leave the machine alone, decepticon." in a clear and calm voice as he can, "I will not permit it to be desecrated by the likes of you." The attack will not hurt at all, but maybe the skill of the strike will make the seeker think twice. Combat: Focus misses Backfire with his Circuit-Su: Open Palm Strike (Grab) attack! Windshear can't help but laugh at Backfire then pauses. When did he become a scout? Well yea, his mentor has said he needs to become one. Maybe someday he might. For now he just huffs a bit and then picks up two, what he can assume are Autobots, heading toward Backfire. He shifts his position slightly and fires, aiming for the one closest to him. Combat: Windshear strikes Dee-Kal with his Grab attack! Combat: You took 0 damage. Backfire shimmies into the pile further, completely ignoring Focus and Dee-Kal when he spies the lucrative prize! Reaching inside the cockpit, the Seeker seizes the contraption by something more sturdy, hefting it into the air. <> he cheerfully reports. Another scene of suffering breaks out not too far away, almost as if to make Dreadwind's point, not that he notices or even cares. He has seen the truth but nobody will listen; they prefer to shield themselves from the crushing truth of reality with illusions, preferring to remain ignorant. Focus tenses, then relaxes, letting the frustration melt away leaving only the technique. Focus shifts his stance wider while swinging his arms front and rear with palms up. He launches into a series of strikes as Backfire makes his boast. His two finger strikes are exact and fierce, aiming for any vulnerable spots Focus picks up and the spots that all Cybertronians have. Dee-Kal is so busy with FOcus and the discovery of the exo that she completely leaves herself open to fire from Windshear. OW-! "Hey!" she hollers back up. Then she growls at him, optics switching from lavendar to dark purple. "You think you are *superior*..?" With no more effort than one of their own kind, she flies up in robot mode and launches a solid punch at the cocky Decepticon. Combat: Dee-Kal misses Windshear with her Junki-Punch! (Grab) attack! Combat: Focus misses Backfire with his Twenty-Four Open Palm attack! -1 F16 Falcon 's continual depressive line of fact is interrupted as he picks up a signal and worse it's from one of his own troops, which means he'll probably have to actually get involved and do something, life is so unfair making him take part in it. <> Windshear is surprised that its a femme that he hit and she suddenly comes barreling up to him. He transforms and with a laugh easily evades her punch. Then as her swing goes by he makes a grab for her arm to send her tumbling away from him. Hes playing now. Combat: Windshear strikes Dee-Kal with his Grab attack! Combat: You took 0 damage. Backfire stumbles down from the pile, towing the junk in hand. Suddenly he's set upon by an Autobot. Not just -any- Autobot, but the blind one! "Hey, quit that ... I don't wanna ... Dude, chillax!" the Seeker whines, efficiently dodging the blows for once. "I do -not- want to be that mech everyone laughs at for beating up a cripple, cut it out!" he gasps out, trying to heft the oversized trophy away. <> Cybertronian Tetra jet transforms into the pretty boy Decepticon, Windshear. Focus finds the attacks missing or not striking with enough power to have any effect. Focus frowns, feeling a bit sad that he has to put more effort into this. Over an AI program is hardly worth it, but this is for Dee-Kal. He says, with more of a bite in his tone, "Release the object, or face the consequences." It's almost as if his look took on a more serious tone. Before, his body language said protective and defensive. Now, aggressive and dark? Focus is into the fight now as he opens a fist, energon crackling along the plating and some liquid form leaking out of the finger joints. "I have beat Scourge before, you would not pose a problem." He taps into something sinister in his bag of tricks, forcing his body and mind into doing things that he'll regret later. But it must be done now to save a friend of Dee-Kal's. Combat: Focus sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Focus misses Backfire with his Five Fangs Open Palm attack! -1 Apparently Windy is a dab hand at lateral dodges. He must get beaten up a lot. More likely, Deek has some way to go in the fine art of *not* being a lady. And she's equally startled when Windy takes advantage of her and uses her own momentum to send her right back to earth! She's seen enough wrestling shows to KNOW that move by now... Unfortunately she's not *quite* high enough from the ground to find her wings in time... the young Junkette plummets down to the ground hard... Combat: Dee-Kal strikes Backfire with her Wheeeee..... BONK! (Grab) attack! F16 Falcon sighs heavily and wonders if being less ignored by some is worth all this effort of having to deal with underlings, it probably isn't but then what's he going to do about it? Nothing, that's what! <> The transmission is cut short, perhaps mercifully so and then Hi-Test's voice cuts in, <> "The Sweep? He hardly poses a rough comparison to a Seeker, Galvatron's trusted and tried true aerial combatants!" Backfire shouts back, blocking the blows with the busted up Exo suit. "Isn't it enough that you strike at me, but you intend to damage my ego as well???" So distracted in defending his honor, Dee-Kal manages to land right on top of him and the Exo suit. "Bah, I wanted attention from the femmes ... but this is hardly what I'd call adequate!" Backfire stammers, getting to his feet and dragging the 'find' on the ground ... now in strewn parts only held together by connecting wires. <> Windshear laughs again when the femme crashes into Backfire. Well thats not exactly the cover support Backfire asked for but still. And he does love total fails like this. With a chuckle he radios Backfire. <"How you doing there, Backfire? Orders?"> yea Backfire outranks him. Everyone outranks him.. sure he gets medals for his work and commidations but promotions? Never happens... +JUNKION+ Hot Spot says, "Dee-Kal, I just heard you are trying to retrieve something from a broken Exo Suit?" Dee-Kal shakes her ponytail clear of her optics, coils it up into a bun (the hair, not the optics) and pegs it home with a jump lead clip. She rises to her feet, shaking her shoulders and her wings set. "Aaaya... fun time is *over* Septic!" she grumbles and grabs at the rapidly disintegrating remains of the exosuit. "Give... it... *up*-!" And she yanks hard on the head and shoulders. Well, shoulders... what's left of 'em. She's got this far dammit. She'll be smurfed if she's going to give up with out a fight..! Backfire has a hold of the hips and lower section, tugging ferociously. "You shant come 'tween me and my prize you crazy Junk-head! In the name of the EMPIRE, I BACKFIRE ask ... nay, demand that you surrender this corpse at once!!" the Seeker shouts loudly, still heaving at the Exo. +JUNKION+ Auto-Junk Dee-Kal says, "No... I am trying to smurf the *whole* exo-suit... and as... *exertion sounds* a guest smurf... on the J-channel... you cannot... I will *(HEAVE)* I will not... fail..!" +JUNKION+ Hot Spot says, "Dee-Kal, it is way to risky for you to go out there at this time. I know how you feel and what that suit means to you, but you got to think of the possibilities that could happen. If the Cons capture you, then we are in deep trouble." Windshear cant beleive what hes watching below and starts laughing. He actually falters in the sky where hes hovering hes so tickled about it. <" Haha.. need.. somehelp.. backfur?" .. he cant even talk straight at this point. +JUNKION+ Auto-Junk Dee-Kal says, "That... is my *Junkion* choice... there are still... *(HEAVES)* still options... I will not give up... not yet!" Dee-Kal growls her motors, all but making the air vibrate. "You... will NOT smurf my friend as a trophy or scrap-!" She yanks with extra force as emphasis... F16 Falcon suddenly banks sharply and angles towards the conflict, his engine coming to full burn as Hi-Test transforms and combines pushing even more energy through Dreadwind's systems. For all the lazy speed he was exhibiting before is suddenly gone in a blink of an optic and the reason why Dreadwind is feared as well as despised becomes clearer. A single lancing beam of precise thermal energy cuts down towards the struggling Cybertronians, the already damaged armour offers up little further resistance to the powermaster boosted blast and is melted clean in two. "Such a waste of effort and for what a melted husk of nothing... a grim reminder that there is nothing for us but suffering and then death..." +JUNKION+ Scattershot sighs. Then he sounds resigned. "Well, just make sure you take a couple of 'em with you." Backfire stumbles back with his half of the prize, smiling warmly. "You know what Junkhead, this is much better than the whole trophy! Now, you'll be given just a taste of what you desired ... but denied finality!" he laughs evily, even adding a "MUWAHAHAHAHA!" at the end for added effect. +JUNKION+ Hot Spot says, "I know how you feel, but at a time like this... I cannot risk you being captured or worst..." Do they have Christmas crackers on Cybertron? Do they pull the wishbone to see who gets to make that wish..? An irony that perhaps Deek is more familiar with than Backfire, as she finds herself careening backwards into the debris along with Focus, one half of Buzz Lightyear securely in her grasp... presumably the upper half. From midriff to top, no ammo pods, and only one arm; such is the nature of the prize secured. +JUNKION+ Auto-Junk Dee-Kal says, "*startled shock* Ayaaaa-! OW-! *SMURF!* Owww..!" Windshear keeps laughing, hes holding his stomach laughing. "You .. need to take this on the road and tour, Backfire..." he stammers. F16 Falcon carries on his way not bothering to stop and see the results of his attack, what would be the point? They'll either recover it all or only half, either way it's still a failure. "There i hope you're happy now Hi-Test this is all going to lead to something far worse in the future..." The two hovercar bots, on Junkette, one Autobot, look to each other. Focus, blind, but perfectly able to express himself, give the Junkette the sort of look that suggests 'you dare think of going for the second part at *any* time and I'll personally throw you in the brig myself'. For her part, Deek pretends she's blind to Focus, and holds her section - the important section, the part that housed Noah and his companion - to her guardedly, glowering at th Decepticons to dare come and get it. Backfire goes home. Backfire has left. +JUNKION+ Auto-Junk Dee-Kal says, "*weakly* Ah-heh... I think... I wish to go home. Mission... half complete is better than nothing. I have SUCH a headache..." +JUNKION+ Hot Spot says, "Where are you at, Dee? I'm coming to get you!" +JUNKION+ Auto-Junk Dee-Kal says, "I think... just north of the Highway... northern cross... roads... phew!" +JUNKION+ Jetfire says, "Please see to it that they get back safely, Hot Spot." +JUNKION+ Hot Spot says, "Will do." +JUNKION+ Auto-Junk Dee-Kal says, "*pants but sounds calmer* Hey, *I* do all the... smurfing around... here..!" Hot Spot has arrived. Hot Spot slowly goes down to the ground and transforms hastily into his cool blue fire truck mode. He's ready to terminate those fires! Blue Fire Truck comes rushing to the Crossroads after finishing up something back at base. The Bot tries to keep himself hidden from view as he is in Decepticon territory. He searches and seraches for the Junkion who was supposely out here. Gosh, I do hope she is alright, thought Hot Spot, rushing as fast as he could. Dee-Kal sits, looking slightly winded, alongside Focus, who (in spite of his player logging out) is also seated alongside her, somewhat more winded, being the one she landed on when Dreadwind lasered the Warthog into two. A tug of war moment between themselves and Backfire, no less. Focus is somewhat tight-lipped. The little Junkion has both arms wrapped securely about the upper torso and one arm of the exo abandoned by Noah Wolfe (during the last RISK combat scene). Still driving, still hidden, the Protectobot continues his search and will keep on searching until the Junkion is found. No Bot shall be left behind (though technically the two are not Bots). A few meters, possibly eighty, Hot Spot can spot something from afar, maybe it is the two Junkions? If so, he turns his attention towards that area. Auto-Junk, Autobot. Seeing headlights, the little Junkion stands up and looks towards the road. Blue! Smurf blue truck with a ladder on top. It's Hot Spot! She radios a cheerily <> Upon arriving in front of the two, the vehicle fully stops. <> Dee-Kal tells Focus what's going on, only to be politely reminded that while he can't see, his other senses are perfectly fine. Between them the two hovercar-bots load the remains of the exosuit on the back of the fire truck and find a purchase or a seat for themselves. Blue Fire Truck rolls out of the Crosslands, heading back to home base. <> "Arigato for coming for us, Mander Hot Spot... " Dee-Kal pats the frame of her commanding officer/fire truck. She watches the desolate scrap-strewn landscape as they drive home. The clutter back home is much friendlier (friendly junk? It's a Junkion thing, perhaps). A sigh. "I did not set out to be reckless. I meant to retrieve something... someone. For Earth..." She looks at the warthog remains. "It is the order of things. But hai... I understand. It could have been better. for all Earth people one day soon." She breathes another sigh. "I have much to do..." And they drive off into the sunset.